A guide to standards and patents online databases

m.grzesczyk@normapme.com

What is a standard?
A standard is an agreement between the parties involved, such as manufacturers, sellers, purchasers, users and regulators of a particular product, process or service. It contains a technical specification or other precise criteria designed to be used consistently as a rule, guideline, or definition. Its adoption ensures to all operators a clear reference in terms of technical specifications, quality, performance and reliability. Its objective is to ensure that products and services are suitable for their purpose and they are comparable and compatible.

Advantages of standards
Standards are created to meet a demand. They are produced by bringing together the expertise of interested parties including regulators, academics, producers, sellers, buyers and end-users to deliver best practice. Standards help to make life simpler. They increase the reliability and effectiveness of many products and services we use. The adoption of standards helps companies produce the highest quality products and services in the most efficient way possible. Standards assure both customers and many stakeholder groups of the quality and reliability of products and services. Standards can exist to guarantee the safety and quality of a product.

Standards - CEN
Databases are publicly available on the National Standardization Bodies websites Some of the National Standardization Bodies provide abstracts of the most popular standards e.g. BSI, AFNOR, NEN Information on drafts are available on the CEN website

www.cen.eu

ICS International Classification of Standards

safety garden equipment

safety + garden equipment

Registration necessary

Abstract

safety + garden equipment

Abstract

www.standardsinformationservice.com

Standards under development

Standards - CENELEC
Standards on electrical and electronic goods Databases available on the CENELEC website No detailed information about the content of standards Standards can be bought on the websites of the NSBs www.cenelec.org

alarm systems

Title: 75 Scope: 11 Keywords: 1

Standards - ETSI
Standards on Information and Communication Technologies Databases are publicly available on the ETSI website Standards are free to download after simple registration www.etsi.org

speech processing

Standards International Bodies

International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standards on electrical, electronic and related technologies International Organization for Standardization (ISO) International Telecommunication Union (ITU)

www.iec.ch

alarm systems

www.iso.org

alarm systems

Catalogue online

Patents
A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to a patentee for a fixed period of time in exchange for a disclosure of an invention.
Wikipedia

Why using patent information? It can help you make informed decisions when choosing strategies for researching or developing new products.
A way of finding out what solutions already exist than by looking at patents. The technical details of research being carried out by your competitors may appear first in a patent document, before the product reaches the marketplace. Avoiding infringing other peoples patent rights.

Patents
The European Patent Office provides a free worldwide database of European and non-European patents There are free descriptions of each patent available without any registration Database is available in most of the European languages Help and guidance to the database search is available on the website e-Learning tool on the patent system is also available on the website of EPO: http://www.epo.org/patents/learning/e-learning.html http://www.espacenet.com/

garden equipment

and more
Organisation for Harmonisation of the Internal Market (OHIM): - Design database (RCD-Online) - Trade Mark database (CTM-Online)

oami.europa.eu